Dispensing-fixture.



Patented Apr. 29,1919.

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COURTNEY P. WINTER, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 JAPANESE TISSUE MILLS, 0F HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHU- SETTS.

' DISPENSING-FIXTURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

Original application filed April 30, 1917, Serial No. 165,408; Divided and this application filed October 2, 1918. Serial No. 256,520.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, COURTNEY P. WINTER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in DispensingFixtures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved dispensing fixture for use in the dispensation of articles, such as paper napkins and the like for example. While the invention is capable of general application, it is particularly suited for use with packages of the type disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 165,408, filed April 30, 1917.

An object of this invention is to provide a dispensing fixture for the package which fixture has means to support the bottom of the package and spaced pairs of uprights between which two of the triangular corners of the package may be positioned, leaving the forward corner exposed, together with weights slidable upon said pairs of uprights to hold the package to its supporting means, the fixture being characterized for cooperation with the package in holding the latter in a simple and eflicient manner and in permitting the removal of the packaged articles one by one in an advantageous manner.

Other obJect-s and advantages will appear in the description to follow and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention, in an embodiment at present preferred, is shown for illustrative purposes in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fixture embodying the invention, a conventional representation of a package being shown in cooperative relation in the fixture; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the package shown as removed from the fixture.

Referring to these drawings, the fixture may be advantageously formed from a single piece of wire bent into the shape shown in Fig. 1. As there shown, the fixture involves two vertically upstanding members 5, each of which is of the shape of an inverted U. The members 5 are arranged in spaced parallel relation and the rear leg of each is connected with a horizontal portion 6. The latter is spaced forwardly from the common vertical plane of the rear legs of member 5 by the bent portions 7, one ad- ]acent the bottom of each rear leg of members 5. The horizontal member 6 is also spaced vertically above the lower ends of members 7. The front legs of the members 5 are also connected by portions 8, 9, and 10. The portions 8 are inwardly turned toward one another from their respective legs of members 5, and theportions 9 are bent forwardly at right angles to the members 8 and lie in spaced parallel relation. The members 8 and 9 all lie in a common horizontal plane and in the same horizontal plane as the described member 6. The spaced forward ends of the members 9 are connected by a U-shaped portion 10 which is bent downwardly at right angles to the members, as clearly shown. The two portions 7 and the portion 10 are adapted for supporting engagement with a table, counter, or other suitable supporting means.

The package will be briefly described to facilitate a clear understanding of the op eration of the fixture and the manner in which the package and fixture cooperate.

The package, represented generally by reference letter a in Fig. 1, is substantially triangular in shape. It consists of a plurality of vertically stacked articles, each of which is folded in the manner best shown in Fig. 2. The articles, for example, paper napkins, are substantially rectangular sheets each of which may be folded one or more times upon itself in the usual manner, the folded article still retaining its rectangular shape. The rectangular napkin, or the rectangularly folded napkin, is folded along a line I; which is substantially parallel with. but is spaced from one of the diagonals of the rectangular article. This folding operation divides the napkin into two parts 0 and (Z, and the former is superimposed upon the latter, as shown in Fig. 2. The part c or upper fold of the napkin is of triangular shape, and the part (Z or lower fold is substantially triangular although not exactly so since the line of fold b is not a diagonal of the rectangularly shaped napkin. The fact that line b parallels but is spaced from the diagonal line of the napkin results in making one fold, the upper fold 0, smaller than the fold (Z therebelow, so that two edges of the former parallel the corresponding edges of the latter and are spaced therefrom to- U-shaped' member ward the line of fold b. The package, as has been mentioned, comprises a plurality of napkins, each folded as described, which are stacked one upon another with the short fold a uppermost. The napkins, thus stacked into package form, may be held temporarily together in any suitable manner, as by elastic bands, for example.

The package a of napkins folded and stacked, as described, is insertible in the described fixture, as shown in Fig. 1. The bottom of the package is supported along its rearedge by the member 6, intermediate its rear edge and its forward pointed corner by the members 8, and the pointed corner is supported by the member 9. The lowermost napkin in package a is held away from the supporting means for the fixture by the leg forming portions 7 and 10. The two pointed side corners of the package are received between the inverted U-shaped members 5 and slidable on the'lattcr are weights 11. The

latter may be advantageously formed from a single piece of wire bent into an elongated and narrow loop, each of which loosely fits and is slidable upon a pair of legs of a The ends 12 of the loop forming member 1.1 are inwardly turned to underlie the curved upper ends of members 5 so that the weights 11 cannot be readily removed.

It is to be noted that the spaced parallel upright loop forming members 5 function to position the package a and hold it against displacement in any direction in a horizontal plane. The package cannot be moved an appreciable distance to the right or left or forwardly or rearwardlywithout being arrested by abutment with some part of members 5. The weights 11 serve to hold the package upon its described bottom supporting means and compress the packageto some degree adjacent its side corners. The central portion of the package is not, however, compressed and the compression of the side portions of the package has a tendency to throw the forward triangular corners of the package upwardly and to separate the triangular corners of the upper folds c from, the lower folds d.

The forward triangular corner of the upper fold c is thus ordinarily positioned slightly above the lower fold (Z and constitutes the only part of the napkin which is conveniently available to be grasped. By being positioned in such a manner, the forward corner of fold c is so temptingly arranged for convenient grasping that one involuntarily reaches for this corner when it is desired to withdraw a napkin from the fixture. Gne naturally grasps the napkin by the forward corner of upper fold 0 and in sodoing only the upper napkin itself is touched. The napkinstherebelow are protected from contact by the projecting lower fold (Z. The package is also arranged so that only one napkin at a time can be conveniently withdrawn.

In use, the forward triangular corner of the upper fold 0 of the uppermost napkin of package a is grasped and drawn forwardly. The triangular edges 0 of the lower fold (l are brought into engagement with the forwardlegs of members 5. On continued movement of the napkin forwardly, the edges 6 act against the forward legs of member 5 with a cam action to force the two side portions of the upper napkin inwardly toward one another and this results in forcing the central portion of the napkin upwardly. Upon further forward movement, the central portion of the napkin is bent upwardly to such an extent that its sideedges clear the forward legs of members so that the napkin may be withdrawn.

It is to be noted particularly that the weights 11 play an important part in the withdrawal of napkins in the described manner. They not only act in the ordinary way to hold the package upon its supporting members, as described, but they also function to hold the rear edge of the. napkin from being drawn upwardly to defeat the smooth withdrawal of the napkin by the described cam action. For example, a-forward'pull on the forward corner of fold o acts on lower fold d at the rear thereof along th line of fold b, and the edges 6, being heldby abutment with the forward legs of member 5 hold the lower fold cl. against forward movement with the result that without the weights 11 the unrestrained rear edge of=napkinwill be drawn forwardly and lifted vertically before the described cam'actionican occur. This brings a relatively large surface of the napkin against the forward 'legs of members 5 rather than thin edges as when the rear edge of the napkin isrestrainect from lifting by the weights 11.

Thus, an improved holding: fixture has been provided which is characterized by simple and inexpensive constructiom and more particularly by its arrangement for cooperation with a package of thetype described in theefficient dispensation of the units of the package.

The invention has beendescribed in aform at presentpreferred for the purposes of illustration, but the scope of the invention-is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

That I claim is 1. A dispensing fixture for a stack of triangularly shaped articles, comprisinga; base portion to support the stack, apair of. spaced and substantially parallel uprights @upstanding fromeachend of saictportionyeach of said pairs 1 being arranged in spaced and substantially parallelrelation and adapted to receivetherebetween one corner portion of said stack leaving one triangular and forwardly extending portion of the stack exposed, and a centrally arranged member pr0- ecting forwardly from said base portion as a continuation thereof to support the base of the stack at the last-named corner.

2. A dispensing fixture, comprising, a one piece member bent to forin two spaced parallel inverted U-shaped portions, and portions to connect each leg of one U-shaped portion to the corresponding leg of the other U- shaped portion, said connecting portions being positioned in a common plane which is arranged at right angles to the plane of said U-shaped portions, one of said connecting portions having an offset portion directed away from the other connecting portion, all

A constructed and arranged to receive and to support and position therein a package of triangularly shaped articles.

3. A dispensing fixture, comprising, a onepiece member bent to form two spaced parallel inverted U-shaped portions, and portions to connect each leg of one U-shaped portion to the corresponding leg of the other U- shaped portion, said connecting portions being positioned in a common plane which is arranged at right angles to the plane of said U-shaped portions, one of said connecting portions having an offset portion directed away from the other connecting portion, all constructed and arranged to receive and to support and position therein a package of triangularly shaped articles, and a weight slidable on each of said U-shaped portions of said pairs adapted to receive therebetween a corner portion of the Package leaving one corner portion thereof freely exposed, and weights slidable upon said pairs to engage upper portions of the package, all constructed and arranged so that as the upper article of the package is withdrawn by said exposed corner portion, the converging edges of the article are forced against said uprights to cam the opposite end portions of the article toward one another, whereby the central portion of the article is forced upwardly until the last-named end portions clear said uprights.

COURTNEY P. WINTER.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 1). t2. 

